Supernatural season 8 will begin with the Winchester brother separated yet again. While Dean got sucked into Purgatory at the end of season 7, Sam was left alone. What did each brother get up to in the year that passed between seasons?

We talked to Jensen Ackles on the Supernatural set (a visit courtesy of Warner Bros.) and found out quite a few interesting tidbits about the upcoming season 8. Check out the video below for some highlights!

Don't have the time (or interest) to watch the entire Jensen Ackles video? Here are the things you need to know:

Things are going to be tense between the Winchester brothers at the beginning of the season.

The main tension between Dean and Sam -- at least at the beginning of Supernatural season 8 -- comes from the very different lives they have been living in the past year since we last saw them. "Dean was in this concentrated war zone," Jensen Ackles explains. "And Sam was really just the opposite."

In the season 8 premiere, the boys will have to come together for a new quest.

Flashbacks will show Dean's experiences in Purgatory throughout the first several episodes of the season.

Sam's past year will have flashbacks to explain his actions. In episode 8 (the episode that was filming at the time of the interview), we will get an important part of that story.

Dean may not approve of everything Sam did in his absence.

"At the end of the day, they're still brothers. They still have each other's back."

Benny, a vampire character that Dean works with in Purgatory, will be played by Ty Olsson.

How does Dean get along with a man who should be his enemy? "It's a foxhole relationship," Ackles says. "He's been at war with this guy. And at first, obviously... It's not the kind of character that Dean would allow to live, much less team up with. Benny really earned his stripes with Dean."

Sam is not going to understand the Dean-Benny relationship.

Supernatural season 8 premiere, "We Need to Talk About Kevin," airs Wednesday, October 3 at 9pm on The CW.